Overcoming the weakness of landlocked countries ｜ Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd.

Formulation of road development plan for enhancing connectivity between Hanoi and Vientiane

Countries in the Mekong region, including Laos and Vietnam, have great development potential in the ASEAN region, which has an enormous market with about 600 million people. Although the economy of the region is growing and regional integration is strengthening after the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, the region still faces a major challenge in realizing economic development. In particular, access to ports for import and export has become an urgent issue for Laos, a landlocked country, and the lack of connectivity between Hanoi and Vientiane has become a major regional issue. Under these circumstances, a Pre-Feasibility Study on the Hanoi-Vientiane Expressway Project started in the beginning of 2016 based on cooperation between the governments of Laos and Vietnam. Furthermore, the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding on the same expressway when the Vietnam Communist Party General Secretary visited Laos in November of the same year. Then, the two governments requested the assistance of the Japanese government at the Vietnam-Laos summit meeting held in June 2017.

The objective of the pre-feasibility study was to propose the following two plans through collection and analysis of relevant structural and non-structural information, including policies and measures needed to enhance the connectivity between Hanoi and Vientiane:

(i) Road development plan, which cover construction of an expressway and improvement of existing roads between Hanoi and Vientiane, and

(ii) Regional transportation plan and non-structural measures for enhancing the connectivity between Hanoi and Vientiane.

Construction on the road planned from Laos to the Vietnam border has been suspended
Border between Laos and Vietnam
Quaro Port in Vietnam, which handles some of the import and export cargo from Laos

Proposal of measures to improve convenience of travel and economic development along the expressway

This expressway is expected to play a major role in facilitating the flow of goods between Laos and Vietnam. The alignment was established by considering the smooth flow of large trailers, and the travel time between Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and Vung Anh Port of Vietnam. Moreover, we proposed countermeasures for promoting regional and industrial development in Pac Xan and Laksao, two major cities along the road. The road was planned to pass through as many development areas as possible. In addition, non-structural measures to enhance the connectivity was proposed besides the high-standard road construction. The proposal included improvement of customs clearance and quarantine procedures at the Laos-Vietnam border, upgrade of cross border transportation agreements, strengthening of cross-border facilities, increase in customs staff, and capacity building of logistics companies. The study targeted both Laos and Vietnam, and a joint field survey was conducted at the end of the study for final confirmation.

Status of implementation of consultations in Vietnam
Field survey jointly conducted by persons in charge of Yachiyo engineering, transportation infrastructure, Laos and Vietnam